Sixty-One Megapixels. That’s the headline that accompanies almost every mention of Sony’s newest full-frame mirrorless camera, the A7R IV. The A7R series has always been Sony’s flagship body for landscape and high image quality work, and the fourth generation bumps the resolution of the sensor from 42.7 megapixels to a whopping 60.1, which somehow gets rounded up to 61 in Sony’s marketing literature. However, the higher resolution sensor may actually be the least consequential upgrade Sony has made with the mark IV body. They’ve ported over their full tracking autofocus from the A9 and a6400, while improving ergonomics, upgrading the EVF, adding a second high-speed card slot, and maintaining a fast burst shooting speed. It’s a camera that can seemingly do everything and do it well. I’ve been shooting with the A7R IV for nearly three months now: let’s see how well it performs.

The Sony A7R IV with its 61 megapixel sensor

Note: I review gear from a real-world shooting perspective, determining how a piece of gear handles for me in actual use. I also am not a videographer, so my camera reviews cover the still-imaging aspects of a camera.

Body and Ergonomics

When Sony transitioned from the original A7 / A7R body style to the newer, updated Mark II version, they made a number of major changes to the ergonomics and controls. These were only slightly refined in the Mark III bodies, and now for the A7R IV we see further changes that at first appear to be minor refinements. While the A7R IV looks very similar to the A7R III, the subtle changes made make the largest change in ergonomics and handling since the jump to the Mark II body style.

Most everything about the feel and controls has been refined and improved. The most obvious change is apparent as soon as you pick up the A7R IV. The hand grip looks almost identical to the A7R III, but look closer and you’ll see that Sony has reduced the slope of the top of the grip and slightly extended it as well. It’s also angled away from the lens mount slightly. These subtle changes make a noticeable difference in ergonomics, and the new grip is considerably more comfortable. It’s also taller, such that the grip can fit your pinky on it for the first time in a Sony A7 series body. The grip redesign gives you a little extra clearance for your fingers between the grip and a mounted lens, which helps the camera handle better with big glass. However, I still feel that Sony should add about 1cm of extra width between the grip and the lens mount. Even with the redesigned grip, fingers can get a little cramped when using lenses with extremely fat barrels (think 85mm f/1.4s and the like).

Sony A7R IV

The ergonomic improvements continue with the buttons. All of the buttons have gotten a bit larger and some, such as the AF ON button, have gotten considerably larger. The button action is also improved, with a longer actuation and more tactile response. The new buttons feel great. The focus point selection joystick also gets an upgrade. It’s now slightly larger and has a more comfortable landing pad made of nubbed rubber. The only control that doesn’t get any upgrade is the four-way selector and wheel, which is now the least enjoyable control on the camera to use, though it still works just fine.

Sony made some subtle adjustments to the dials as well. The front control dial is now angled upwards slightly, making it more comfortable to turn and use, while the rear control dial has been raised to the top plate to make it easier to access. The exposure compensation dial gets a click lock button in the middle so you are able to lock the EC dial and prevent accidental changes. I’ve never had a problem with this dial moving on any of my previous Sony bodies, so I leave it permanently unlocked, but for those who have desired a lock on this dial, it’s there.

The top dial controls of the A7R IV

The final improvement to the body design in the A7R IV is the improved weather sealing. While the previous Mark II and III bodies had nominal weather sealing, the quality of that sealing was fairly mediocre. Those cameras might withstand a light drizzle, but I wouldn’t recommend anyone use them in a downpour. With the A7R IV, the side port doors have been redesigned, with a side-hinged design (eliminating the annoying tendency of the Mark III bodies to leave the doors in the way during operation). These doors are rubber with deep sealing grooves that nest into the body, providing a much more robust seal. The SD card door has been redesigned to make it more secure and with improved rubber gasketing. And finally, the battery door gains rubber seals around it for the first time in an A7 body.

The side flaps covering the ports are hinged flaps now

While Sony made fairly substantial refinements to the grip, buttons and dials, the overall look of the camera body is largely identical to the Mark III bodies from Sony. The A7R IV is still a compact body that is solidly built of magnesium alloy over a steel frame. It just feels better, more polished and more robust than previous iterations.

Operation and Controls

While Sony made upgrades across the board to button feel and size, the actual control layout for the A7R IV is identical to the A7R III. The front of the grip still has the front control dial, while the top of the camera features the On/Off switch surrounding the shutter release button. Behind the shutter release sit the first two programmable buttons. For my use, I have C2 set to switch between manual focus and autofocus, while C1 is switched to toggle between full frame and APS-C shooting modes. I’ve never programmed a button to do this before, but with the insane 60 megapixel resolution and 26 megapixel APS-C resolution, it makes sense if you’re going to crop in post later, to just use the mode in camera for easier composition.

The rest of the top controls consist of the standard PASM mode dial, which has the typical modes, plus movie mode, S&Q mode for high or slow frame rate movie recording, plus an Auto mode and three programmable modes where camera settings for various setups can be saved. This allows you to have a setup for sports or wildlife, for instance, which perhaps bumps up minimum shutter speed and changes autofocus modes to operate better for tracking.

The back command dial has been moved to the top plate now, which makes it a little easier to access, and finally the exposure compensation dial sits in its usual place , though the dial is a little taller and features that previously mentioned toggle lock.

The rear of the camera is dominated by the tilting touch screen, and flanked on the right side by the improved focus joystick, the four-way control dial, the Play and C4 programmable button (which defaults to the delete button in playback). The Fn button sits below the focus joystick and brings up the Function menu, which is a customizable 12 item menu for often used settings. I’ll get more into touch screen operation shortly, but this is one area where touch operation would be helpful. The boxes in the Fn menu just beg to be touched, and Sony has seen fit to let us poke away in frustration while nothing happens. Still, the joystick and dials can be used to easily select items and change their settings.

The rear of the A7R IV

Above these controls on the rear top of the camera are the C3 programmable button, the menu button, movie record button, AF-On button and AEL button. All of these, save for the menu button, can be reprogrammed to whatever purpose you desire.

The joystick on the back can be used to reposition autofocus points anywhere in the frame, as well as navigate through menus and through images when zoomed in. Speaking of the autofocus points, the A7R IV finally allows you to change the color of the AF area in the viewfinder to red. It’s a small thing, but it makes a big difference in day-to-day operation, as the AF point location is finally clearly visible and won’t get lost like the gray point of all earlier models.

If you’ve used Sony cameras in the past, this control scheme will be very similar or identical to other cameras in the lineup, which makes it great for those upgrading. In all, Sony didn’t mess with much here, for good or ill.

The menu system is the same general system as on the A7 III and A7R III. It’s a multiple tabbed interface with many pages per tab, which holds a dizzying array of options with which to customize your camera. While these options provide a tremendous amount of customization and ability to tweak all aspects of camera operation and quality, the sheer number of options can make it very confusing and difficult to find specific options. Thankfully, the A7R IV has the same ‘My Menu’ option where multiple pages of your most commonly changed settings can be selected and arranged. When you’ve spent the time to set up this menu, along with the customization of the Fn menu and the buttons and dials, it eliminates almost all of the menu diving that you would otherwise do.

The now standard ‘My Menu’

The recall custom hold function from the mark III bodies also makes its return, allowing you to set multiple settings to a single button that can then be recalled simply by holding one of the custom buttons on the camera. For example, if you’re shooting tripod mounted, with 2 second self timer and single AF, but suddenly an action opportunity arises, if you have a custom hold button set with continuous AF, 8 FPS burst and zone AF, you can just pick up the camera, hold that button and get the shot without having to change multiple settings.

Overall, the A7R IV’s controls are familiar, powerful and mature, though sometimes at the expense of ease of use.

Wow. Some folks at the big box sites should take a lesson on what artwork should look like in a review article. Amazing images. I know it is too much camera and lens to haul around for me all the time, but it certainly can perform.

Regarding sample images made with the Sony A7R-IV, I notice you have several sample shots made with the Sigma 14-24 but not yet a review. You also have sample shots using the Tamron 17-28 but your review only included using the A7 III. Of these two lenses, which did you generally find exploited the Sony’s 60MP the best?

My review of the Sigma should be posted sometime in the next day or two. I have it 99% written…just cleaning things up. My Tamron review was written before I got the A7R IV. As a bit of a preview…let’s just say the review of the Sigma is, well, glowing.

I did. I switched back in December and sold my A7 III. Main motive was that I got a great deal on a new A7R IV and couldn’t pass it up, and the big motivation was the real-time Eye AF and tracking. After using it on my a6400, not having it on my A7 III felt like a huge step down in AF functionality. It’s not that the A7 III is bad at focusing…far from it, but the compositional freedom that the upgraded tracking system offers is just so nice to have.

After using it for a while, the 60MP files are a bit intoxicating too. 🙂

Thanks Jordan for your feedback. I thought Sony had updated the Eye-AF of the A73 to A6400 level?

I am still debating whether to upgrade from my ailing single camera setup A6000 with A6400/6600 and the Sigma primes or go for the A7-III and the Tamron zooms. Price is not that different as weight is. However, I am not on your Pro level :-).
Do you have any recommendations regarding that choice?

The AF updated on the A7 III brought improvements to EyeAF, including animal Eye AF, which is part of the a6400/a9 style focusing, but it did not bring the real-time Tracking AF, which makes all the difference. The A7 III still required you to have the focus point generally in the vicinity (though with Eye AF, you could use zone focusing and have it pick eyes out in general.) The tracking AF, combined with Eye AF is what is really revolutionary….it will follow your subject around the frame, and not lose them if they hide their face, but switch to tracking them as a whole, then re-acquire the eye once it reappears. It’s also super useful for other types of shooting that don’t require Eye AF.

As to choosing between the crop bodies and the A7 III, it’s really a personal choice. The A7 III image quality is going to be better, with more dynamic range and better noise control, though only you can know if that really makes a tangible difference for your shooting. If you don’t shoot a lot of low light, or you don’t print very large, it’s unlikely you’ll see any real difference in output in day to day usage. The A7 III will show improvement when the sensor is stressed, such as wide dynamic range applications and the such, and has a bit smoother tonal rolloff. However, the overall improvement isn’t something that will likely jump out at you. The a6400/6600 are definitely much smaller, and consequently are lighter to carry around, especially as a kit with smaller lenses, though they also aren’t as comfortable to shoot with. Personally, I preferred my A7 III to to the a6400, but it really is a personal choice.

The Full frame system certainly has a better overall lens selection, and while you can buy FE lenses for use on the a6400, they generally aren’t not well suited ergonomically, and sometimes may not be quite sharp enough for you, though that is dependent on each lens…the best lenses will be just fine on the denser a6400/6600 sensor. I will say I wouldn’t go for the Tamron zooms on the crop bodies. First of all, they make for very awkward focal lengths (26-42mm and 42-112mm), but they also aren’t going to be quite as good image quality wise as something like the new Sony 16-55mm f/2.8, which is what I’d get if I were investing in an APS-C only system as a standard zoom. That will cover most of the range of the two Tamron zooms and do so with a lens that is geared towards the smaller sensor.

The Sigma f/1.4 primes are outstanding, though. I own the 30/1.4 and 56/1.4, and they’re great. The 56/1.4 is astonishingly good.

Excellent review and astounding images Jordan….. I’ve really enjoyed your site and the real world reviews you have done…. Straight with no chaser…… I’m not quite there yet, just having finally upgrading from my A99 to A7Rii, I along with both Tamron’s 17-28 / 28-70, and the Batis 25. I’ve been chopping at the bit to get out and shoot once the NP’s open up again and after looking at your images just intensified those feelings.

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